French Touch: Between Men (2019)

Ylan

Love, sex, heterosexual, homosexual ... But then people think of gay sexuality, their meetings? Is there a way to love more than another? This is the first thread of the film Bruno Rodriguez-Haney, for which he also signed the BO and scenario. This film, based on the novel of the same name (Edilivre-APARIS Editions) takes us to the heart of reality. love between people of the same sex is good! A story told with humor, but also with great sensitivity.

Haus

A displaced black queer boy finds refuge in his city's underground Kiki Ballroom scene.

Perfect Endings

Like the perfect ending of a great film - that is the way filmmaker João describes the end of his 10-year relationship with Hugo. Despite breaking up, they remained best friends. However, reentering the dating scene brought a whirlwind of emotions, revealing that reality can’t be controlled like a movie script.

The Blind Owl

Ricky is a young man who takes care of his sick mother. His father hovers at the edge of the picture, so Ricky provides for himself and his mom through prostitution, running errands, and acting as a caregiver for a blind man. Through the course of the film, Ricky befriends Janey, a young woman he finds beaten by her ex-boyfriend, and Trenn, a mysterious young man in trouble with the law. The three of them navigate a dark and confusing world. It uses many of the actors who have come to constitute the Dar A Luz company, including Tony Torn, Tom Fitzpatrick, Juliana Francis, and Tom Pearl. It will disappoint those who approach it looking for a film analogue of the “faster and louder” aesthetic that critics have used to characterize much of Abdoh’s stage work. The Blind Owl does use a variety of techniques reminiscent of his stage direction, giving it an unusual theatricality.

Longing Nights

Aitana, Pierrick, Rita and Jorge are all in their twenties and all look for ways to make their nights in the city of Madrid a little less lonely. Aitana is a sweet girl trapped in a men’s body; Pierrick is a cute French gay; Rita doesn't much care about her partner, Carolina, and walks through life with no expectations; Jorge is trapped in a relationship with no future: the one he has with Maria. Set against a background of drugs, sex, multiple partners and differing sexualities, Longing Nights follows the individual stories of these young people. A candid portrait of four relationships highly loaded with eroticism from beginning to end. Four stories told without no borders between fiction and reality.

Bad World

Based in Jacksonville, Oregon in the year 1992, life changes for the worst. People start going crazy, violent, cannibalistic, tearing the world apart. We follow Erin, a quiet young teenager through a post-apocalyptic world. Facing struggles not even your worst enemy should face. Mystery and menace have taken control of their lives. From getting ripped apart, broken down, hurt and scared. Erin and Jacob always find their way back to each other.

Vacío

This drama, centered on a homosexual man, studies the consequences of the loneliness and misunderstanding that we continually face. On any given day in the life of Martín, his almost lost battle against anxiety will take a turn when his conflicts with family and friends show him that the existential emptiness that he already feels as part of him is not reason enough to as defeated.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Pennsylvania, 1993. After getting caught with another girl, teenager Cameron Post is sent to a conversion therapy center run by the strict Dr. Lydia Marsh and her brother, Reverend Rick, whose treatment consists in repenting for feeling “same sex attraction.” Cameron befriends fellow sinners Jane and Adam, thus creating a new family to deal with the surrounding intolerance.

Girls Love

Two roommates living in an all-girl dormitory. They fall in love with each other.

Nice Shorts

Nice Shorts consists of four short films from up and coming directors. A simple walk means so much more in the touching short "Shall We Take a Walk?" directed by Kim Ye Yeong and Kim Yeong Geun. Directed by Hong Sung Hoon, "Girl" tells of a father's strange day when his son's girlfriend shows up, and Lee Jeong Wook's "Mates" goes undercover into memories and crime solving. Winner of Best Korean Short at the 2009 Jeonju Film Festival and the Excellence Award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival, Jo Sung Hee's "Don't Step Out of the House" is about two young children who live in a rundown apartment by themselves, and what happens when adults invade their space.

Shared Rooms

A romantic comedy that brings together three interrelated tales of gay men seeking family, love and sex during the holiday season.

Dashing in December

When Wyatt returns home for the holidays to try to convince his mom to sell their family ranch, an unexpected romance with handsome ranch hand Heath may throw off his plans.

The 24th Day

Tom and Dan's one-night stand turns into an intense power-play between captor and captive.

Better Than Chocolate

Not long after moving into her own place, Maggie finds herself with two unsolicited roommates: her recently divorced mother, Lila, and her young brother. The timing is especially bad, considering Maggie has fallen hard for an attractive woman, Kim, only hours before they move in. What could be a nonissue becomes increasingly complicated -- since Maggie's family is unaware of her sexual orientation, and Maggie is not open to sharing that information.

Seven Lucky Gods

An illegal immigrant from Albania infiltrates the lives of a group of Londoners with devastating consequences.

Mysterious Ways

Choosing between the love of a good man and the love of God is a tough call especially for vicar Peter Simmons. His tranquil life is rudely interrupted when he rashly proposes marriage to Jason his Samoan boyfriend, in church. As the news breaks globally of their forbidden sexual relationship, Peter’s place in the church is threatened and his belief in God is challenged to breaking point. The only thing that can save Peter is a miracle.

Happy Together

A gay couple from Hong Kong takes a trip to Argentina in search of a new beginning but instead begins drifting even further apart.

Horseshoe Theory

A weapons deal between a white supremacist and a member of the Islamic State blossoms into more.

Debut

A short film about Philip who dreams of becoming a model. At a casting he gets the chance to be photographed with the well-known model Sebastiaan; they fall in love. During the photo shoot, Philip pushes his limits more and more in order to keep the photographer's interest. Philip and Sebastiaan lose control of the situation when Philip is doing everything he can just to be able to stay in front of the camera.

Ties

The friendship between two teenage boys is tested when one of them crosses a line.

Requiem for a Dream

The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.

Bend It Like Beckham

Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe.

My Own Private Idaho

In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

7 Virgins

Tano is 16-years-old and is already sitting in jail. In 48 hours he’s a free man and off to the wedding of his brother. In the two days he recounts his neighborhood in a section of Sevilla.

Fire

In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.

Fuck The Boxes

Set in the present day, this coming of age story tackles unconventional queer love. Dan, a gay man, falls in love with Ray, a non-binary person assigned female at birth. Whilst Dan is forced to question his own label, Ray learns to accept love as a non-binary person.

Breakfast on Pluto

In the 1970s, a young transgender woman called “Kitten” leaves her small Irish town for London in search of love, acceptance, and her long-lost mother.

Imagine Me & You

During her wedding ceremony, Rachel notices Luce in the audience and feels instantly drawn to her. The two women become close friends, and when Rachel learns that Luce is a lesbian, she realizes that despite her happy marriage to Heck, she is falling for Luce. As she questions her sexual orientation, Rachel must decide between her stable relationship with Heck and her exhilarating new romance with Luce.

The Gemini

A secret story of a same-sex love affair between two Myanmar men. After getting into a forced marriage with a rich girl, one of the men is killed in a plane crash. Much later, his wife is approached by a man, a bestselling writer, and soon suspects that he may have been her husband's lover. But now a real mystery begins to emerge as the evidence mounts her husband may still be alive.

Bruno Reidal: Confession of a Murderer

Raulhac, Cantal, France, September 1, 1905. In the forest surrounding his hometown, the young seminarian Bruno Reidal murders a child and then surrenders himself to the authorities.

Alexander

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

Only Human

Promising pianist Kryštof and porn actor Filip take on the complicated issue of prejudice, both in society at large and within the LGBTI community.

Gods and Monsters

It's 1957, and James Whale's heyday as the director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man" is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from his past. When his dour housekeeper, Hannah, hires a handsome young gardener, the flamboyant director and simple yard man develop an unlikely friendship, which will change them forever.

And the Band Played On

The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.

Who Would You Take to a Deserted Island?

On their last night together, four longtime flatmates' lives are suddenly upended when a secret is revealed during the course of an evening celebration.

Naked Lunch

Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede. Upon indulging, he accidentally kills Joan, takes orders from his typewriter-turned-cockroach, ends up in a constantly mutating Mediterranean city and learns that his hip friends have published his work -- which he doesn't remember writing.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Two drag queens and a transgender woman contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a town in the remote Australian desert. As they head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla, the three friends come to the forefront of a comedy of errors, encountering a number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, whilst widening comfort zones and exploring new horizons.

American Gigolo

Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.

Hara Kiri

A punk infused love story of two street skaters, August and Beto, and their last day on earth: they're gonna end it.

Free Subject

Iris, a teacher in her early forties who works at a Fine Arts School, assigns to her students an exercise on a Free Subject. It is a time when social behaviours and values are being called into question. The 20-year-old students are thrilled at the idea of being free to choose their own subjects. They create an “imagination factory” that has no limits. After finding Iris’s lost cell phone, provocative Yorgos, bases his Free Subject on his fictitious recreation of his teacher’s life. Free Subject deals with the limits of individual freedom in contemporary Western societies.

Philadelphia

Two competing lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries.

The Opposite of Sex

A 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus wreaking havoc on all of their lives.

Enthralled

An enthralling directorial debut by the phenomenal, biting columnist and broadcaster Chip Tsao. Three elementary school pals, separated during the post-Tiananmen wave of emigration, reunite after 20 years, only to find themselves in totally different places. When each of them gets involved in an unlikely and at times illicit romance, their disparate lives intertwine and take a dire turn. The simmering ennui of post-handover Hong Kong is insightfully captured in this original and hardhitting drama about love, deceit and betrayal.

Olivia

"Olivia" captures the awakening passions of an English adolescent sent away for a year to a small finishing school outside Paris. The innocent but watchful Olivia develops an infatuation for her headmistress Julie and through this screen of love observes the tense romance between Julie and the other head of the school Cara in its final months.

Falas de Orgulho: Histórias (Im)possíveis

Plot unavailable

Withered in a Blooming Season

Brotherly love goes too far when Feng gets his twin sister pregnant while both of them are still in high school, creating a problem that's bigger than both of them. Convincing his gay friend Le Le to take the blame seems like the best option.

Nuclear Family

Jules, 18 years old, reluctantly spends his holidays in the naturist campsite of his childhood. He is torn between his attraction for the beautiful Karim, a seasonal worker on the textile beach, and the depression of his mother Adèle, who refuses to let him grow up.

Service

A struggling family owns a Filipino porn theater where prostitutes conduct their business.

Beyond the Horizon

Summer '76, there's a heatwave and the Swiss countryside is drying out at top speed. In this stifling environment, Gus who is thirteen years old and son of a farmer, sees both his family environment and his innocence relentlessly breaking. He's living the end of a world.

4 Moons

Four interwoven stories about love and self-acceptance: An eleven year-old boy struggles to keep secret the attraction he feels towards his male cousin. Two former childhood friends reunite and start a relationship that gets complicated due to one of them’s fear of getting caught. A gay long lasting relationship is in jeopardy when a third man comes along. An old family man is obsessed with a young male prostitute and tries to raise the money to afford the experience.

The Boy and the Wind

A young engineer on holiday gets involved with a boy who has a strange relationship with the wind. Their close friendship arouses suspicion in the small town. When the boy disappears, the engineer is accused of murdering him.

Matias and Jeronimo

Matías and Jerónimo know each other since they were just kids. Their friendship is a mix of fun and desire, but everything changes the night they go to the carnival and they see how a group of thugs beat a gay performer behind the scene.

Cotton Wool

A single mother suffers a devastating stroke leaving her teenage daughter and 7-year-old son to care for her, testing the family's strength to hold things together as their roles are reversed.

Five Ways to Get Rid of a Hickey

Being caught at school giving each other a hickey, Manu (14) and Toña (15) begin a journey of desire, guilt and goodbyes.

The Devil's Magnificent

Manu, a trans immigrant, must return to her native Chile after 10 years in France. In the days leading up to her departure, Manu’s platonic friend Daniel proposes marriage with the intention of solving her visa issues. Manu strongly considers the offer, but she’s wholly disheartened at the prospect of a life without love, romance, and sex—that is, until she meets a fellow foreigner who instills in her the hope for a romantic future.

Lonesome Cowboys

Five lonesome cowboys get all hot and bothered at home on the range after confronting Ramona Alvarez and her nurse.

When Night Is Falling

Camille is a professor at a Protestant college who is engaged to Martin, a respected minister and fellow professor. When Camille meets Petra, a bold and flamboyant performer in a circus troupe, she is inexplicably drawn. Pursuing Petra, Camille throws her whole conservative life into disarray.

Thaw

While working on a remote farm for the winter, two friends begin to switch genders.

Torch Song Trilogy

Arnold is a gay man working as a drag queen in 1971 NYC. He meets a handsome bisexual man.

A Song Sung Blue

Fifteen year-old Xian goes to live with her father while her mother, a doctor, takes a job in Africa. Soon, she becomes fascinated by her father's stepdaughter, a swaggering, liberated and slightly melancholic young woman.

Wake Up, Leonard

Leonard is a young gay man with a patchy beard and clip in his hair. It’s the eve of his birthday, and he’s moving into a new place and getting some advice along the way from his sister, a questionable guru, and his mom, as he prepares for a date with his ex.

U Up?

Two young men meet for casual sexual intercourse. The physical connection is undeniable. A moment changes everything and a decision needs to be made for this to become a real encounter and put an end to a history of emotional isolation.

The Wedding Banquet

A Taiwanese-American man is happily settled in New York with his American boyfriend. He plans a marriage of convenience to a Chinese woman in order to keep his parents off his back and to get the woman a green card. Chaos follows when his parents arrive in New York for the wedding.

Whisper

Anna, a 16 year-old girl from the sticks, trades her military education for life in the big city Running away to Prague opens a whole new world where she drinks her first cappuccino and meets the kind of people she has only seen in movies.

Some of My Best Friends Are...

Regulars gather at The Blue Jay, a gay bar in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, to celebrate Christmas Eve 1971 with people they consider family.